


To my lovely Lambert. With Love, Aiden

by Ledgea



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt Aiden, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Serious Injuries, Soft Eskel (The Witcher)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:35:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27803899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ledgea/pseuds/Ledgea
Summary: Eskel searches the area some more, finds some blood flecks next to the beginning of the trail – not a lot, but enough to be concerned – and decides to start his climb immediately instead of lingering at the camp for the rest of the afternoon and the night and head into the mountains in the morning. With some luck, he'll reach the unlucky witcher on time to offer him some help.Or Eskel happens upon an injured Aiden, takes care of him and discovers a few things along the way.
Relationships: Aiden & Eskel (The Witcher), Aiden/Lambert (The Witcher), Eskel & Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Lambert
Comments: 37
Kudos: 234





	To my lovely Lambert. With Love, Aiden

**Author's Note:**

> So. I don't really know what I wrote here, but I've wanted to experiment with some hurt!Aiden or hurt!Lambert for a while and this is what happened...  
> Sorry for the medical inaccuracies...
> 
> Hope you'll still enjoy it though :D

When Eskel comes home at the end of fall, the last thing he expects to find at the beginning of the trail leading up to the keep is two witcher's swords stuck into the ground. There are some faint traces of a recent fire and a pack and some armour pieces left next to it. He gazes upon the place in puzzlement, dismounts and goes to inspect the abandonned belongings.

He heads for the swords first and is relieved to find out that he doesn't recognize them. They're well taken care of and unstained, but for the bloody handprint on the pommel, and Eskel sniffs the blood to make sure it isn't Geralt's, Lambert's or Vesemir's. Fortunately it is not and he puts them away to go deal with the pack and the armour.

He doesn't find anything interesting though. Some clothes, a dagger, potion vials, a sharpening stone and a bar of soap. The parts of armour he finds seem sturdy and well taken care of and the only reason he can think of for someone to discard them is that they feel like they would only slow them down. It doesn't help him understand what happened, but just confirms that a witcher was here and apparently left quickly, probably injured.

He searches the area some more, finds some blood flecks next to the beginning of the trail – not a lot, but enough to be concerned – and decides to start his climb immediately instead of lingering at the camp for the rest of the afternoon and the night and head into the mountains in the morning. With some luck, he'll reach the unlucky witcher on time to offer him some help.

So Eskel adds the swords and the pack to his own belongings on Scorpion's back, takes a few minutes to eat and drink and starts his climb in an unusual state of alertness. He doesn't find the witcher in the afternoon, but he spots several blood flecks on the path. He has to stop in the evening, afraid he'll fall down the moutainside in the dark and decides to camp on a flat boulder.

He lights a fire, makes it as big as he can hoping the injured witcher may see it and walk down the path towards it. Once he's settled for the night, he can't stop thinking about the man. He wonders who he is and what brought him up here. He's not a Wolf, of that Eskel is sure – unless a lost one is making his way home, but Vesemir had told them that he was sure that they were the last of their school so Eskel is sceptical – and he doesn't expect to find a Viper or a Cat. That would leave a Bear or a Griffin.

Eskel knows that Lambert had met a Griffin on the Path and befriended him, and Vesemir had offered him shelter if Lambert ever wanted to bring him, so it may be him. Geralt had had a pint with a Bear a few years back too and Eskel remembers smiling and shaking his head when his brother had explained that they both had been silent at their table save for a few grunts, but that the atmosphere had been friendly. Only Geralt would call that a successful meeting.

Vesemir might still have a few friends left from the other schools too, but as his mentor is rather tight-lipped about his youth, Eskel doesn't know if any of them are still alive. He tosses and turns into his bedrool thinking about it and falls into an uneasy sleep next to his slowly dying fire.

He wakes up tired on the next morning. He startles awake from some blurry nightmares and can only remember dreaming about finding Geralt's mangled corpse on the path to Kaer Morhen. He shakes his head, forces himself to forget about the horrible images his brain had come up during the night and hurries to pack his camp up.

He takes the time to eat and drink, checks Scorpion's hooves before saddling him, and finally leaves not long after dawn. He follows a trail of blood flecks until he comes across a small stream and stops to let Scorpion drink. He searches the area again, checks the bushes and bellows for the wounded witcher to show himself, but no one answers him.

He finds some knee prints in the mud next to the river though and a bloody shirt abandonned next to a log. He picks it up and stares at it for a few seconds, before bringing it to his nose to sniff it. He furrows his brows when he doesn't recognize the man's scent. He could have sworn that the shirt belonged to Lambert, is almost sure that he had mended it for his brother two winters ago, but he can't find his scent on it. He may be mistaken though, brown shirts certainly aren't a rarity in this world.

He packs the shirt up too and continues on his way after filling his waterskin. By the end of the day, he still hasn't found the injured witcher or his corpse and he's slightly impressed by the man's stamina and determination. His packs are definitely getting heavier though. He's found two more daggers, a bloodied leather glove, two wrist straps, a vambrace, an empty jar that by the smell had contained pickled plums and weirdly an inkpot and a quill.

Eskel picks everything up, carefully puts the items away with the rest of the man's belongings and continues on until sunset. He makes camp again, this time under some trees and yells for a while to make his presence known. Nobody answers him and the nightmares come back, this time showing him Lambert's broken body at the foot of a cliff.

He wakes up gasping for breath in the morning, still in the dark, and Eskel packs up his camp in the light of his fire. He enjoys the warmth of the flames until he can't decently put his departure off anymore and leaves his camp leading Scorpion on foot. The air gets colder as the morning progresses and he spots the first snow sticking to the ground by midday.

And an hour after his quick meal, he finds a bloody cloth. It's been a while since he's last seen blood flecks and he had thought that the witcher had managed to stem the bloodloss, but he'd apparently been wrong. The cloth, a strip from a blanket, sports traces of fresh blood though, and Eskel knows that he's getting closer.

He leaves the cloth be, no point dirtying his belongings, and hurries on the path. He finds another dagger an hour later and a small bag a quarter of an hour after that. The bag contains a pair of socks, a shirt, a waterskin, two strips of jerky and half a blanket. Eskel frowns at its content and knows that it probably was the last items the witcher had with him, for him to abandon them, he really must be in a bad shape.

So Eskel adds the bag to his growing pile of collected items and doesn't linger. He moves up the trail, gets hit by the first snow flakes he sees this season and after half an hour of slow progress, trudging forward fighting against the wind, Eskel finally happens upon a body. He thinks that he's too late when he spots the figure laying prone against a boulder, his cloak covering him from his nose to his knees.

He still approaches the body, gets to his knees next to the witcher and checks his pulse. He's astonished to find a small pulse still going and Eskel peels the cloak back to reveal the man's body. He's dressed in a black shirt, with a strip of cloth tightly wrapped around his middle, which is probably staunching the bleeding. Eskel sighs and picks the man up with a grunt. He deposits him on Scorpion's saddle and mounts behind him to keep him from falling down.

He knows that there is a small cave up ahead, which will offer them shelter until the witcher either dies or gets better. Eskel is early enough this year that he can take a few days to tend to the wounded man, so he carefully steers Scorpion up and hopes that the man will be able to hold on for a little while longer.

By the time they reach the cave, the man is still breathing and Eskel is once again astonished at the witcher's resilience. He carefully sets the man down on the cave's floor and decides to take a look at his wounds before taking care of the fire. So he rummages in his bags for his potions' bag, sets it down next to his patient's prone body and gets to his knees.

He gently peels the cloak back, cuts the strip of blanket away from his middle and rucks his shirt up. He vaguely notices that the man doesn't wear any medallion, but concentrates on the wound in front of him. It looks quite a few days old and strongly reeks of poison. Eskel recoils slightly from the smell and looks for some Golden Oriole and Kiss in his potions' bag.

As he tips the vials into the man's mouth and unto his wound, he remembers not seeing any healing potions into the man's bags. So he's probably been attacked by someone who knew what they had to take away to prevent him from healing. Eskel frowns at the man, he doesn't like the implications of this last discovery, it's certainly not good if witchers are fighting one another or if the secrets of their trade somehow ended up in the wrong hands. He'll have to tell the others and they'll probably have to check it out and be on their guard for a while.

Once the potions start to work, Eskel feels like the witcher's breathing comes a little bit easier. He lets out a relieved sigh, stitches his wound and prepares a vial of White Honey to administer him if the toxicity proves to be too much. He then checks the rest of his body over and finds that the man is missing the middle finger from his left hand too. The wound has been cauterized though and Eskel can only gently wash it and rewrap it in clean bandages.

Once he's done he covers the man up again and leaves the cave to collect firewood. The witcher still hasn't moved when he comes back and he lights a fire, before taking care of Scorpion and letting all of his bags drop to the floor.

Eskel then goes to check on the man again and finds him still unconscious and not really looking better, he'll probably need a new dose of potions soon. He puts his hand over his heart, closes his eyes, concentrates on the sound of his faint heartbeat and falls into a shallow meditation. He's startled out of his calm state by the witcher gasping under his hand and gripping his arm tightly.

“Lambert ?”, the man rasps and Eskel furrows his brows.

“No, I'm Eskel. Lambert's brother.”

The witcher still seems pretty out of it and his eyes are slightly glazed over as he tries to take in Eskel's face.

“Wolf ?”, he asks again.

“Yes,” Eskel nods, “Do you need water ?”

The witcher nods and Eskel props him up before tipping some water into his mouth. The man manages to keep a few sips of water down, before he starts coughing and then retching. Eskel notes that there's some blood mixed with the water and he looks for new vials of Golden Oriole and Kiss. The toxicity doesn't seem to be a problem, so Eskel hopes half a vial of each will help him further. He really wants him to stay alive now, if only to be able to pry from him the story of how he knows Lambert later on.

But before Eskel can tip the content of the potions' vials into his mouth, the witcher shakes his head and one of his hands urgently paws at one of his trouser's pockets. Eskel sighs, but gets his hand in said pocket and hands the witcher the piece of parchment he finds in there.

“No, for Lambert,” the witcher rasps between coughs and hands him the parchment, “Give it to him.”

“You'll give it to him yourself,” Eskel says and tries to give the parchment back.

“In case. Please,” the witcher begs.

The broken desperate plea of the man who is not sure he'll live long enough to see Lambert again makes him agree to the request. The witcher nods in gratitude and slumps back tiredly in Eskel's arms. Eskel carefully tucks the parchment into one of his own pockets and finally tips the potions into the now pliant man's mouth.

“Tell him it wasn't his fault,” the witcher slurs at him as his eyes close and his hand squeezes Eskel's arm, “Tell him.”

“I will,” Eskel promises.

The witcher relaxes at his soft reassurance and Eskel gently guides him back down to lay down. He fetches his bedroll and a shirt he balls up into a pillow and settles the man comfortably next to the fire. Eskel then sits down next to him and gazes at him in puzzlement.

Apparently this man knows Lambert, was maybe injured because of him and cares enough about him to not want him to be made aware of that fact. Eskel wonders who the man is and racks his brain to try to remember if his brother ever spoke about a close witcher friend, but apart from Coën no one comes to mind. His hand then finds the wrinkled parchment and he fiddles with it. It takes him a few minutes to let his curiosity win and he carefully unfolds the parchment to read it.

It's adressed to _Prickly, light of my life_ and Eskel closes his eyes and sighs as soon as he reads it. He folds the letter back in two and feels a bit like a voyeur. He resists the urge to open the letter again for two minutes, before he grumbles and starts to read again. The first section thanks Lambert for his positive influence on the man's life and Eskel can't stop wondering what his brother looks like as the gentle soul described on paper.

The second section speaks to him more, the witcher is saying a few words about the stupid ideas of Lambert he witnessed or helped him with. Eskel snorts when he reads about them both throwing themselves into the sea from a few meters high, because Lambert had heard that it was a must-do-at-least-once-in-your-life experience from Coën – the man _isn't_ Coën then –, only for his brother to yell that he didn't know how to swin halfway through their fall.

Apparently the manic grin Lambert had offered the other man had almost gotten him punched, but the kiss they had shared while his brother had clung to the man supporting him in the water had been one of their most memorable. Eskel blushes slightly at that and checks the witcher's condition again, he really wants him to live now, wants to watch him interact with Lambert and see if he can really make his prickly brother smile as softly as he describes it.

The last section is a bit smudged and there are a few bloodstains on the parchment making the read difficult but not impossible. The witcher is telling Lambert to burn his body and to scatter his ashes in a nice windy meadow. He asks for Lambert to visit him once every few years, if he feels like it, and orders him to keep living.

The last line makes Eskel blush again. _To my lovely Lambert. I don't regret anything. With Love, Aiden._ Eskel folds the parchment back up and tucks it into his pocket, he'll give it back to the man later, there's no way he's letting him die now. He stays at the witcher's – Aiden's – side for the whole night, tips some more potions into his mouth when he starts to whimper in pain and piles some more blankets over his body.

He sniffs Aiden's wound in the morning again, can still detect the faint scent of poison, but it already looks better than the day before. Eskel has no doubt that there's still poison in his blood though, seeing that it's probably been days since he's been stabbed, but he feels confident that he'll pull through now. He gives him some water in the morning and leaves the man with Scorpion to go hunt.

When he comes back with two hares, the witcher is awake, sitting with his back to the cave's wall and he seems alert. His eyes follow Eskel as he puts his catches over the fire and he growls faintly as Eskel approaches him.

“Stop being dramatic, I wouldn't have bothered saving you if I wanted to kill you,” he says, crouches a little ways away from Aiden and adds softly, “You're looking for Lambert, right ?”

“How do you know that ?”, Aiden growls defensively.

“You told me yesterday, you don't remember ?”

“Not really,” Aiden says and shrugs, “Everything's blurry.”

“Understandable, I'm Eskel, Lambert's brother.”

“Aiden, Lambert's... whatever.”

Eskel nods and refrains from rolling his eyes, as if Aiden was just a _whatever_ to Lambert _._

“You gave me this,” Eskel adds softly and hands him the letter back.

“ _Fuck_. Did you read it ?”

“No,” Eskel lies and keeps his eyes on Aiden's face, hoping not to appear guilty.

“Good.”

Aiden wrinkles the parchment and throws it into the fire. They watch it burn in silence until Eskel clears his throat.

“You asked me to give it to Lambert.”

“Yeah. And he would have hated the sentimentality of it. I just wanted him to hear these words one last time. I'm going to make it though, right ?”, Aiden asks and Eskel nods, “Then he doesn't need to read it, I'll keep telling him in person.”

Eskel shrugs, Aiden probably knows best.

“Can I check your wound now ?”

“It's fine,” Aiden says through gritted teeth.

“As if,” Eskel mutters and crawls forward until he can get his hands on Aiden's wound, “You almost died of poisoning.”

“Shit happens.”

“How come I didn't find any Golden Oriole or Kiss in your bag ?”, Eskel asks as he cleans the wound gently.

“They had a mage with them,” Aiden grumbles, “Fucker knew about our potions and decided that it would be funny to leave me with only the useless ones.”

“Bastard,” Eskel curses, “Did they attack you because of Lambert ?”

“No !”, Aiden exclaims vehemently and Eskel just knows that Lambert is somehow involved here.

“Right,” Eskel sarcastically says, “Fuck, do the men who hurt you have Lambert ? Are they going to go after him ?”

“Maybe,” Aiden hisses and swats Eskel's hand away from his wound, “Probably in spring though, I was to be a warning. He pissed off the wrong people.”

“That sounds like Lambert,” Eskel sighs.

He'll need to get the whole story out of Aiden over the winter then, because if it hadn't been Aiden, there was a chance these men would have gone after him or Geralt. And if they're threatening Lambert, then it becomes personal and he doesn't plan to let them live long enough to hurt any more of them.

“Don't tell him,” Aiden softly pleads, “It won't do him any good and he'll end up feeling guilty and brooding all winter long.”

“I promise that I won't tell him before the winter ends,” Eskel answers.

“Eskel !”

“He needs to know if people are after him,” Eskel points out sensibly.

Aiden nods dejectedly and lies back down onto the bedroll.

“I think that I'm going to take a nap,” he whispers and turns his back towards Eskel.

“Sure,” Eskel agrees, “We can linger here today too and we'll see about leaving tomorrow if you're feeling better.”

Aiden mostly dozes the day away and Eskel forces him to drink some infusion when he wakes up. They agree for him to drink another half vial of Golden Oriole at midday and half a Kiss in the evening, and Eskel is glad to note that Aiden is definitely getting better. His side is still tender and he's still weak, but his heartbeat slowly gets stronger and the smell of poison disappears from his wound. Aiden even manages to eat some small bites of cold hare in the evening and announces that he feels rested enough to travel on the morrow.

Eskel still lets Aiden sleep in the morning until he wakes up on his own and they share a frugal breakfast together. Eskel then packs the camp up and lets Aiden change his clothes and fiddle with his belongings and then witnesses one of the most idiotic behaviour he's ever seen. Aiden shoulders his packs and swords, thanks him and starts to _go down_ the mountain.

Eskel rolls his eyes, throws his arms to the sky in sheer exasperation and strides up to him. He grips his shoulder and turns him back around.

“Kaer Morhen is that way,” he growls and points _up_ , “What do you think you are doing ?”

“Going down,” Aiden says sheepishly, “I mean I wasn't invited and I'm fine now, I wouldn't want to presume.”

“You're an idiot,” Eskel growls and wrestles his packs away from Aiden to put them on Scorpion's back, “I'm not going to let you go down on your own. You're coming with me, you'll be welcome for the winter. I don't want to get chewed out by Lambert when he finds out that I let you go down the path alone and injured.”

“I'm not an invalid,” Aiden grumbles.

“No, but I'm not risking you breaking your neck either. So up in the saddle with you.”

“It's your horse.”

“You're injured and the path is only going to get more difficult. So you, saddle,” Eskel growls and points from Aiden to Scorpion's back.

It's Aiden's turn to roll his eyes, but Eskel doesn't relent and he watches him get on Scorpion carefully. He hands him another blanket too and when he's satisfied with Aiden's condition, he takes Scorpion's reins in his hands and leads him along the trail.

They travel rather slowly and Eskel has to stop several times to make sure Aiden doesn't fall off the saddle when he inadvertently dozes off. He decides to stop for the day an hour before sunset when they happen upon another cave. He abandons Aiden to check the cave is safe and calls him inside once he's sure no monster will try to snack on them during the night.

He then goes hunting again while Aiden takes care of the fire, but sadly comes back empty-handed. So they share some infusion and jerky between them and when Eskel goes back out to take a leak before going to sleep, he spots a fire on the moutain, probably a day away from their position. When he announces the news to Aiden, the man immediately perks up and asks him if it could be Lambert.

Eskel just shrugs, it may be Geralt or Lambert, maybe even Vesemir coming back from a late trip to the villages at the foot of the moutain. They could wait to see who is following them, but the keep is maybe three days away at the pace they're travelling and Aiden agrees that it would be more sensible for them to continue on. The Wolf following them will probably catch up to them before they reach Kaer Morhen anyway.

On the next day, Aiden tries to stay alert and Eskel sees him looking longingly at the path behind him several times, but he doesn't comment. It doesn't feel right to tease him about his impatience and Eskel doesn't want to give him false hope if it happens to be Geralt behind them. So he continues to lead Scorpion and Aiden up the path, makes sure to find a nice shelter for the night, checks the witcher's wound as often as he lets him do it and goes on.

When they stop at midday on the day after that, they can faintly hear some raised voices being carried up by the wind, but Eskel can't decide if it's Lambert or Geralt. By the forlorn look Aiden throws behind him, Eskel is sure that he wants to stay here and wait. Eskel would gladly allow it, but the next cave he knows of is quite a few hours away and he'd prefer to reach it before dark.

It takes some negotiating for Aiden to agree to follow him, but once Eskel mentions preparing a fire and some warm infusion to possibly welcome Lambert, Aiden nods and gets back in the saddle without a fuss. The voices become clearer as they go up and it's clear that whoever is following them is in a hurry and clearly faster than them.

They still make it to the cave before anyone catches up to them and Eskel leaves Aiden to fuss with the fire and goes to set some traps. When he comes back, Aiden is standing at the mouth of the cave and slightly swaying on his feet. Eskel grumbles, tugs him back inside, forces him to sit next to the fire, checks that the wound hasn't reopened – it hasn't, thank Melitele – and hands him a twig to stir the infusion brewing over the fire.

The infusion sadly gets overturned over the flames not an hour later when they're startled by Lambert's bellowing Aiden's name. Eskel rolls his eyes at his brother's antics and forces Aiden to stay put. He definitely doesn't want to have to stitch his wound back up again. So he gets up instead and heads for the mouth of the cave.

“We're here,” he calls and isn't even surprised when he sees Lambert barrelling towards him.

“Where is he ?”, Lambert asks him, frantic, wide eyes trying to look everywhere at once, “Did you find him ? Aiden !”

“Lambert !”, Aiden calls from behind him.

“He's inside,” Eskel says and quickly moves out of the way lest he ends up bowled over.

“Hey !”,Geralt greets him then much more calmly, “So you did find whoever got Lambert into such a tizzy.”

“Geralt ! So glad to see you !”, Eskel says and goes to hug him, “And yes, Aiden's mostly fine.”

“Good, Lambert was a mess.”

“Really ?”

“Found him three days ago, he was mostly sleepwalking, almost fell down the moutainside twice.”

“Shit,” Eskel curses.

“And he's been cradling a witcher medallion and a decaying finger for days now,” Geralt whispers, “It was kind of disgusting.”

Eskel grimaces at that and they slowly trudge up the path towards the cave. When they peer inside, Aiden and Lambert are holding each other tightly and exchanging soft kisses, and when Geralt splutters next to him, Lambert doesn't even let Aiden go to flip him off.

“Come on,” Eskel says, ties Roach to a branch next to Scorpion and drags Geralt away, “We'll give them some privacy.”

“Ugh, I didn't see that one coming,” Geralt comments once they're far away enough that Eskel is sure Aiden and Lambert won't be able to hear them.

“Lambert kept the cut off finger and you didn't see it coming ?”, Eskel teases him.

“He's never been one for relationships.”

“That we know of,” Eskel points out, “It's not like Lambert is the most open witcher.”

“Yeah, you're right,” Geralt sighs.

“And Aiden wrote him a _love letter_ when he thought he would die,” Eskel whispers, “He called him _Light of my life_ and _Lovely Lambert_.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Geralt swears and sits down on the ground, “Lovely ? Really ?”

“Hey, don't judge,” Eskel admonishes him gently, “I think it's sweet. And don't go teasing Lambert about it, I'm not supposed to have read the letter.”

“You nosy bastard,” Geralt grins at him.

“Like you wouldn't have pried,” Eskel grins back.

“Touché.”

“Anyway, we'll need to pry the whole story from Aiden during the winter,” Eskel explains softly, “They hurt him to get to Lambert.”

“ _Pricks_ ,” Geralt vehemently swears.

“ _Dead_ pricks,” Eskel corrects him.

“Dead pricks,” Geralt agrees and pats the ground next to him.

Eskel sighs and sits down next to Geralt, close enough to leech off some of his body heat. He's glad Geralt agrees with him and he's sure Vesemir will help them too. They'll just need to convince Aiden and Lambert to accept their aid then, which probably isn't as impossible a task as it sounds. Eskel has faith in their abilities and if they prove too stubborn, he could always resort to some light blackmail, after all Aiden had told him that he didn't want Lambert to be made aware of the letter's contents. He's not above using it to get Aiden to agree to let Geralt and him tag along a revenge quest and he's sure that if Aiden agrees, Lambert will listen to him. They can make it into a family outing.


End file.
